Hopper discharge control for ralway cars



July 4, 1950 c. EKSERGIAN HOPPER DISCHARGE CONTROL FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Nov. 3, 1947 PICIi INVENTOR Carolus LFERSQlgiGR BY Q, Owed-4i ATTORNEY Patented July 4, 1950 EN'T HOPPER'DTSCHARGE CONTROL FOB. RAILWAY C ARS CarolusL Eksergian, Media, 1P3,- @ssignor to llihe Bndd Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a. corpora tion ,of Pennsylvania Application November 3, l947.,"Serial No. 783,804

.5 Claims. (.Cl.,4 8)

The invention relates to ca op e id- .56 18 control-iormoving vehicles and, more-partieul arly, to such a control asnapplied to railway vehicles.

"In hoppers provided on railway. cars, it is de- ...;sirable to have them available -for ';use.at all times, i even when the ear is stopped in a, stationor rnovsing S10tV1y;-int0 and out of the station. y It is,

however, notdesirableto have the discharge. from the-hoppe pon. t Qm adbeda WGh im eeh ear is standing still or .rnoving slowly intqor out of a station. Such dischargeis usually; through a genera t hul nchu ext n ne wnwa from ;.the hoppfir Well below the floor of -the par and -if the chute ezgtends downwardly belowthe top of the truck where it is likely. to be struckby t vel ne f t nuckfl l ev n rf e inade flexible to avoid fouling the -truck.

TDhe upperportion offth e tubular-chute rnay be utilized as -a chamber for. holding the hopper discharge, if :the ,hopperisused whilethe car is 1 standing still or .moving slowly, whilethe lower discharge end is held closed lunder;thesetcondi- .tions bya suitable valve under the control ofthe speedof travel of the car.

t It is the object of r ny,invention to providea .valve for-this purpose which is simrileinjf-arm and eificient in operation and well adapted for .use in a flexible chute of'the class above referred Such valve preferably-consists of an inflati ablebag or ball, which is adapted .tobe inflated orrexpanded to. engage the sides of-the chute and close it,.or-to be deflated or collapsed tohold the chute open. Means are.,provided. controlled by the speed of travel of the car tormaintain .the yalve deflated when-the caris travellingabove a predetermined rate and to cause it to bezinfiated f'when .the car is travelling .below sai'd rate, say 5 dischargeohute and the valvetherein.

In the drawing, the fioor of the *car is represented by thenumeral "Ill. 1 l represents a wheel andaxle assembly of one of the trucks supporting the car on the rails, indicatedat I 2.

A hopper is generally indicated at 13 seatedpn t o n th n and x ended downwardl below the floor of the car by a, generally tubular nally closed from '-the, b0w1 portion Q! l -of; th .hoe b a fla ya e l8. ssho mn u lcin.

-b re b d s ber eqep 7 c-r oadbed under certain conditions,

.tion las ,.shown infdotted lines) I the chute andoffers no, material resistance tq-the shown, and is provided with an .inletpo chute .14. Inthe form shown the upperportion 15:01 this chute is rigid iandthe lower. portion ;l 6

g is flexible to allow it to. bend away. if itahappen to be in apositionjwhere it maybe struck 10511 1 swivelling truck. The -.discharge chute isnorp n os on-a i 'dotnded sh inesui-nsclosed te t This .fia -.-val 11 s.-a nerat b th usual -.foot lev,er 4! 9 which also oper a-tes simult n eus th th e ev rel n ae 2. v

in dotted.-lines,,the usual flushing valve h a an em nt.* tew be eent iatt .To prevent the discharge .purpose of the invention. Togallow a sub t toreceive the discharge when the-discharge hute -l 4 .is :closed,. the closing naive 22 preferably earranged nearthe lower end of the chute, i. .e., in the flexible portion .l'fithereof. This valve n ay jcornprise arubber orrubber-lilge bagfor ball which, when inflated, has its walls .egparlded ,against. the. walls oi {the .flexiblelchute to 'ghtly I close it and prevent discharge from its :10

. .r w e When deflated, the bag hangs .;inlcol lapse condit vvone side of free discharge of rnattrjfroxn its lower:.end.

In the.drawings oneiorm of-meanshas been shown for automatically control-ling the tion and deflation ofthe valve .22 but it willbe unders'tood that this is rnerely illustrativeandjQthat other suitable .rneans couldbe utilizedz in place thereof.

According to this .form, the bagc22 is connegted througha flexible tube 23 lqassing through ahole in the side of thelfiexible chute portion-to apart 24 in a valve, chamber 'fi. Ihis. .3 5alve qharnber may be carried b the underside of the n as ,2 and an-exhaust port 26, a sliding valve.;. 2,l con ecting .BXh u -P t% Th valv i nqrma l lursedh a S a :2 t sf t 2n i h. h:the.va1v bag 22 is. connected to the xhaust port, inwhich position thebag is oollapsed leavingthedischarge chute unobstructed.

v As shown -the .valve is in;ilett hand position in which itis held-against the .action :of; the :spring ;28 by the solenoid .29 ;whose.-core-.l:30.is connected to thevalve. @Inthis position the.valveconnects \itheports Menu @2251, andiairzundexpressurespasses from the storage reservoir 3! and pipe 32, through the valve casing and flexible tube 23 into the bag valve 22 to inflate it, as shown in full lines, and thereby close th lower end of the discharge chute. To avoid excessive pressure, such as might overexpand and tear the bag 22, a reducing valve 33 is preferably provided in the pipe 32.

The .means for automatically operating the valve 22 in accordance with the speed of the car may comprise a relay circuit 34 connected with the solenoid 29 and containing a closing switch 35 and a battery 36. The closing switch of this relay circuit is normally held open by a solenoid 31 connected across the lines 38 of a generator 39. This generator may be the usual generator carried by the car body and driven through a belt as from the wheel and axle assembly I! and providing the current for lighting, etc., in the car. With such a generator driven by the car axle, it will be seen that the current output drops with decrease in speed and the solenoid controlled by it may be so adjusted that it allows the closing valve 35 of the relay circuit 34 to close by gravity or otherwise, say at and below a predetermined speed, say miles per hour. As shown, the speed having dropped below this predetermined speed, the relay circuit has been closed and the valve 21 has been shifted to cause the inflation of the chute-closing valve 22. If the hopper is now flushed, the matter is not discharged through the lower end of the chute and it is only after the car has again picked up speed and the closing switch of the relay circuit has been raised to open this circuit that the bag valve 22, being connected to the exhaust port 28, is collapsed and the discharge from the chute can again take place. This collapse may be effected by the natural resilience of the material of the bag or by suitable resilient means associated therewith.

As shown clearly in the detail view of Figure 2, where the bag valve 22 is shown in full lines in the collapsed condition and in dotted lines in coil spring All, and has a head 47 on its outer end against which the outer end of the spring beers.

The inner end of the spring reacts against the inner end of the housing 42. The spring ll is just strong enough to collapse the bag, when the tube 23 is connected to the exhaust port 2% of valve chamber 25, and is readily compressed by the air pressure when it is admitted to inflate the bag.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been herein described in detail, it will be understood that changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without de- 1 parting from the main features of the invention,

and such changes and modifications are intended to be covered by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A hopper discharge control for railway vehicles comprising in combination, a hopper disposed on the floor of a railway car, a discharge chute of generally tubular form extending downwardly from said hopper a substantial distance below the car floor, and means for automatically controlling the discharge from the lower end of said chute comprising a normally collapsed but inflatable valve member disposed in said chute and means controlled by the speed of the car for inflating said valve member to close the chute whenever the car speed is less than a predetermined value.

2. A hopper discharge control for railway vehicles comprising in combination, a hopper disposed on the floor of a railway car, a discharge chute of generally tubular form extending downwardly from said hopper a substantial distance below the car floor, and means for automatically controlling the discharge from the lower end of said chute comprising an inflatable valve member disposed in said chute and means controlled by the speed of the car to permit the valve member to remain deflated to permit discharge from the chute when the car is travelling above a predetermined speed and for causing the valve to be inflated to close the chute when the car is travelling below said predetermined speed.

3. A hopper discharge control for railway vehicles comprising in combination, a hopper disposed on the floor of a railway car, a discharge chute of generally tubular form extending downwardly from said hopper a substantial distance below the car floor, at least the lower portion or said chute being flexible, and means for controlling the discharge from the lower end of said {chute comprising a collapsible and inflatable valve member disposed in the flexible portion of said chute and means controlled by the speed of the car for effecting the collapse or inflation of said valve member.

4. A hopper discharge control for railway vehicles comprising in combination, a hopper disposed on the floor of a railway car, a discharge chute of generally tubular form extending downwardly from said hopper a substantial distance below the car floor, and means for automatically controlling the discharge from the lower end of said chute comprising an inflatable bag valve member disposed in said chute and means connected therewith and controlled by the train speed to permit collapse of said valve member to open the chute above a predetermined speed and cause inflation. of said valve member to close the chute below said predetermined speed.

5. A hopperdischarge control for railway vehicles comprising in combination, a hopper disposed on the floor of the car, a discharge chute of generally tubular form extending downwardly from said hopper a. substantial distance below the car floor, at least the lower portion of said chute being flexible, and means for controlling the discharge from the lower end of said chute comprising a collapsible and extensible valve member disposed in the flexible portion of said chute and means for extending said valve member to close the chute.

I CAROLUS L. EKSERGIAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 864,118 Atkinson Aug. 20, 1907 1,325,310 Zaun Dec. 16, 1919 2,311,197 Ahern Feb. 16, 1943 

